The Eva Series Box Set (Books 1-3)

by Wilde, J. M.

  I spun around and together we ran to the car as fast as we could, Wyatt putting his foot down on the pedal as soon as we jumped inside.

  “You’re hurt,” Wyatt said, glancing at me as he sped down the street towards the city centre. Looking down at my right arm, I saw a huge gash just below my shoulder, blood pouring out of it. “I think I landed on one of the knives when we tipped the trolleys,” I replied, suddenly feeling the pain a whole lot more.

  “Here,” Ben said as he rummaged through his backpack, pulling out a first aid kit from the diner. He pulled out an assortment of tools from it and leaned forward from the backseat. “This will sting. I gotta clean it and put pressure on it.” I looked away as he started treating it, stopping the bleeding but intensifying the pain. I bit my bottom lip, trying to quiet my whimpers.

  “Good thing we’ve got a medic with us,” Wyatt said. “You okay, Eva?”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said, nodding. Surveying the damage, I realised I had grazes on both my arms and on my forehead from the fall, but none of them seemed serious. Trying to ignore the pain in my arm, I looked in the rear view mirror to see the horde as they chased after us.

  Their rotting limbs and decimated consciousness made them slower than us, shuffling more than walking or running. But their animal instincts and ever-expanding numbers made it easy for them to corner their prey. That’s how they were quickly overthrowing the entire population of Australia.

  “Fire doesn’t work,” I said, rolling my eyes at my failed attempt to burn them. “I lit those bastards on fire and it slowed them down a little, but it didn’t stop them. Maybe if it was a huge explosion or something that engulfed them enough to turn them to ash, but just lighting one or two on fire isn’t enough.” I turned to look at everyone to make sure they understood. “We need to remember that. I say we just stick to knives and weapons that we’re sure will destroy their brains.”

  Everyone nodded as we drove further into the city, passing half-eaten corpses and straggling zombies on the way.

  Melbourne had fast transformed into a war zone, and I cowered at the thought of what awaited us at Melbourne Central.

  Chapter Ten

  “I feel so ridiculous right now,” Wyatt said as he leaned out the window, reaching for the ticket machine. He plucked the ticket before it finished ejecting and the boom gates began to rise, allowing us to enter the underground parking garage at Melbourne Central.

  We had seen less zombies than we expected dotting the streets on our drive from the diner into the city, but I still kept a careful watch through the windows while Wyatt started driving again. He edged the car down the winding slope and into the parking lot, and I was relieved to see only three other cars.

  Pulling up near the elevator, Wyatt parked the car and we climbed out, our eyes searching the vacant floor for any signs of movement. I pulled my satchel over my shoulder, flinching as it touched my arm, and held my knife close. After our last encounter in the street and losing some weapons in the trolley crash, we each only had one knife left, and one homemade spear between the four of us. Waiting for the elevator, I wondered how long the power would last in the city, and knew we would have to move fast.

  The doors slid open and we stepped inside the elevator. Ben anxiously pressed the ‘door close’ button repeatedly, and we sighed in relief when they finally slid shut. Seeing our reflections in the glass panels, we gasped, forgetting we were in full zombie makeup.

  “Woah!” Wyatt touched his fingers to his face.

  “Ew,” Jo said as she moved closer to the door, looking intently at her reflection.

  Ben pulled the bloody aprons from his backpack, handing one to each of us. “Hopefully these, combined with the makeup, will help us blend in enough to get to the store,” he said. I pulled one over my head, noticing that the zombie remains had been spread evenly down the middle of it, making it easier to keep it off my clothes and skin.

  The elevator slowed to a stop. Jo started moving towards the opening doors as she slid the apron over her head. She didn’t see the zombie standing right in front of her. Before any of us could warn her, Jo tugged the apron down off her face and stepped out of the lift, screaming when she saw the zombie staring her in the eyes. In a snap reaction, she punched the zombie right in the nose and pushed it with more force than I knew she had, sending it stumbling backwards. It tumbled over the balcony, falling down to the floor below with a sickening crack.

  Jo slowly turned to face us, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open as she shook her hand from the pain of the impact.

  “Are you okay?” I asked as I stepped out of the elevator. She nodded, but her shock was written all over her face.

  “Not gonna lie,” Ben said, “that was awesome.”

  Walking side by side, we looked around for any more unwanted surprises.

  “Which way?” I asked, glancing at Ben.

  “I dunno,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

  “What?” Jo whispered, her hands still trembling.

  “I don’t know,” he repeated, scanning the stores around us. “I think it’s on this floor somewhere.”

  “There’s a map up ahead.” Wyatt pointed to a store directory and began making his way towards it. Once we reached it, we realised we needed to go down one level and walk to the other side of the centre.

  “We’ll never make it,” Jo groaned, dropping her face into her hands hopelessly.

  “Yes we will,” I said sternly. “We’ve made it this far. We can do it. Let’s go.”

  As we stepped onto the escalators and started making our way across the shopping centre, I noticed that some stores were open, but most were closed. I wondered if they had been opened by people just like us, who showed up to work not knowing about the outbreak. I tried not to think about what happened to them, or why the centre was so deserted.

  We had made it more than halfway when we saw two zombies up ahead, crouched over something, tearing through it like lions on a zebra.

  “What do we do?” Jo whimpered, her voice shaking.

  “Just keep going,” Wyatt whispered back. “Blend in. If they come too close, hack their damn heads off.”

  I started to tremble as we edged closer, my heart pounding furiously and my breath shallow in my lungs.

  “Don’t look,” Wyatt whispered as he glanced at me sideways, but it was too late.

  I had already seen the fear riddled face of the woman that the zombies were devouring. She was young, around the same age as me, and wearing a work uniform for a nearby toy store.

  Tears welled in my eyes and all I wanted to do was pull my knife out from my apron pocket and start wailing on the zombies, but I knew it would be pointless; the woman was already dead.

  As we quietly made our way past the beasts, trying our best to seem as undead as possible, one of the zombies turned from their meal to look at us. I swallowed the rising bile back down my throat as it locked eyes with mine while ripping into the woman’s intestines, sending blood and guts spattering all over itself.

  “Okay,” Ben whispered once we had made it successfully past the zombies. “We’re nearly there. I can see it.”

  I had never felt so excited to see a Bob’s Camping store in my life, but it quickly turned to dread when I saw that it was closed, the roller door pulled down to the floor.

  “Looks like Bob didn’t show up for work today,” Wyatt said as we reached the store.

  Ben let out a frustrated grunt as he kicked the roller door. “We came all this way for nothing!”

  I turned around to see a few more zombies had started to emerge, feeling sick at the thought of walking all the way back through the mall.

  “What do we do now?” I asked, trying to pull the door up, but it wouldn’t budge.

  I knew we wouldn’t make it back to the car.

  For the first time since this nightmare started, I felt helpless.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I’ve got this,” Jo said as she pulled two bobby pins from
her hair and bent down to slide them into the lock on the roller door. I looked down at her, raising an eyebrow.

  “I locked myself out the house once while my parents were overseas,” she explained, biting her bottom lip in concentration.

  The three of us kept watch while Jo jiggled the lock open. “Got it!” she said as she slid the door up high enough for us to duck under, sliding it back down again once we were safely inside.

  “You rock!” I smiled, high-fiving her. Jo smiled proudly as we started exploring the store, searching for anything we might need to survive the road trip to Cairns.

  Looking at the row of backpacks along the wall, I had an idea.

  “Here,” I said, walking over to the racks and passing Wyatt and Jo a backpack each. Ben had his, but there was still plenty of room in it for supplies. “We should each have a backpack full of weapons, food, first aid kits ... so we’ll all have everything we need in case we get separated.”

  “Okay, everyone pack your bags and meet back here in ten minutes,” Wyatt added, and with that we took our bags and began filling them with anything we could use.

  I packed a pocket knife, five hunting knives, three first aid kits, a torch and batteries, and as many packets of hydrated food as I could squeeze into the two front pockets.

  “Hey, guys?” I heard Ben call from the middle of the store as I closed the zip on my bag. We all ran over to meet him, instantly seeing why he had called us over.

  He stood in front of a huge motorhome parked on a small stage, the giant sign next to it promoting a Bob’s Camping giveaway, of which the motorhome was first prize.

  “I think I’ve found a better way to get to Cairns,” he grinned.

  “Yeah, because that’s completely inconspicuous,” Wyatt said sarcastically, staring up at it.

  “It’s no more inconspicuous than a bright yellow Chevy Impala,” replied Ben. “We’ll be able to store heaps of weapons and food in there, and it’s practically zombie proof!” He patted his hand on the side, watching us think it over.

  “It would be more comfortable,” Jo said. “But how do we get it out of here?” She opened the cabin door and climbed in to take a better look.

  “The same way Bob must have got it in: drive it,” Ben said, following her up the steps.

  “But ... my car,” Wyatt muttered with a frown.

  “It’ll be alright here,” I said. “It’s not like anyone’s going to steal it. And Ben’s right, this is a safer option.”

  Stepping into the motorhome, I started to feel slightly more hopeful about road-tripping to the other side of the country in the middle of an outbreak. With a kitchenette complete with an oven, stove, microwave and refrigerator, four-seater dining area, and even a toilet and shower, this would be much more comfortable than Wyatt’s Chevy, stylish as it may be.

  Wyatt climbed in after me and walked over to the driver’s seat. “There’s about a quarter tank of petrol,” he said as he inspected the rest of the cabin. “And a CB radio!” Turning the radio on, all we could hear was static. “We’ll try it again once we’re on the road.”

  Ben cocked his head to the side as he spotted a button on the wall, and pressed it. “Check this out!” A double bed descended from the ceiling, over the couch along the back wall. “Looks like there’s only one bed.” He winked, glancing over at Jo.

  “You wish” she replied, narrowing her eyes at him. She pressed another button and a double bed came down over the driver’s cabin. I avoided eye contact with Wyatt as we all stood looking at the two double beds, but I could feel my cheeks warming into a blush.

  “We won’t be using them, anyway,” Wyatt said as he rubbed hand over the back of his neck. “We won’t be stopping long enough, and I don’t think it’s safe to have the beds down while we’re on the road. Anyone not driving will have to sleep on the couches.”

  I nodded once before jumping out of the RV and picking up two of our backpacks. “Let’s load it up and get out of here.”

  Wyatt ran over to the store counter and started searching through the drawers. He grinned as he pulled out a small set of keys. “Got the keys, let’s go.”

  I was about to jump aboard when I noticed an axe hanging on the wall. Knowing the more weapons we had, the safer we would be, I took it down and carried it into the RV, slipping it into my bag. Ben and Jo opened the roller door while Wyatt and I surveyed the cabin, taking note of everything we had gathered.

  With a stack of knives and other weapons, ten first aid and survival kits, plastic jugs that Wyatt had filled with filtered water from the tank in the back room of the store, torches, sleeping bags, walkie-talkies, matches and enough dehydrated food to fill three of the drawers in the kitchenette, I felt confident we had more than enough to survive.

  “I think we’re ready to go,” I said, putting my arms on my hips triumphantly. “All we need to do now is get out of Melbourne Central.”

  “That should be fun,” Wyatt grinned at me, placing his hand on the small of my back and leaning in close to me. I held my breath and closed my eyes, waiting for his lips to grace mine.

  The sound of a throat clearing stopped us, and I turned to see Ben had interrupted us once again. I could see Jo standing behind him, her smile so wide it touched her eyes. I stepped back and crossed my arms, trying to play it cool even though I could feel my cheeks burning red. I glanced up at Wyatt to see his jaw clenched as he glared at Ben.

  Ben raised an eyebrow and tried to stop the smirk that was pulling at his lips. “That’s new.”

  Jo opened her mouth to speak, but it took a moment for her to find her words. “We, uh ... we cleared a path out of the store and the roller door is up. We better go.”

  Without saying a word, Wyatt stepped into the driver’s cabin and took a seat behind the wheel.

  “Shotgun!” Ben yelled as he jumped into the RV, before stopping to look at me. “Oh, unless you want to sit up front?” He winked, nodding towards Wyatt.

  I glared at him. “No, I’m good. I’ll sit back here with Jo.” After the messed up day we’d had, I needed some quality time with my best friend.

  Ben buckled himself into the front passenger seat while Jo and I strapped ourselves into the bench seats in the dining area.

  “Everyone ready?” Wyatt called. “Doors locked?”

  “Ready,” I replied, nodding my head as I tightened my seat belt.

  Wyatt turned the key in the ignition. The engine sputtered for a moment, and we all glanced at each other nervously before it roared to life.

  “Here we go!” Wyatt started rolling the motorhome towards the door and out of the store. I looked out the window as we drove into the shopping centre, swallowing hard when I saw a group of zombies roaming the area. They must have been drawn out into the open by the sound of the engine. I grabbed my backpack and pulled out two hunting knives, passing one to Jo. “Here. Just to be safe.”

  Jo took the knife and held it tightly in one hand while she closed the curtains over the window with the other.

  “Just to be safe,” she repeated, shifting nervously in her seat.

  The RV picked up speed as we approached the horde, running over them one by one. I bumped up and down in my seat, wincing at the sound of zombies falling under the wheels while others banged on the walls.

  “Get rid of him!” I heard Ben yell, and I leaned over to see what was going on.

  One of the zombies had climbed onto the front bonnet and was hanging off of the left side mirror, his mouth frothing and its dilated pupils watching Ben eagerly.

  “Hold on!” Wyatt called as we approached an exit leading onto the street. “It’s going to be a tight squeeze!”

  I braced myself as the RV crashed through the automatic doors, snapping the left mirror off and crushing the zombie against Ben’s window, smearing blood and brain matter along the glass.

  Ben leaned away from the window, his mouth hanging open in horror at the sight. “Gross!”

  We sped out of Melbourne Central and turned
onto the city streets, sending the squished corpse sliding off onto the road.

  “We made it!” Jo gasped, almost surprised.

  We cheered and laughed as we made our way out of the city.

  I let out a long exhale and felt my shoulders relax for the first time all day.

  Chapter Twelve

  Just before we reached the edge of the city, Wyatt pulled the RV to a stop at the side of the road. I leaned to the side to ask him why we had stopped, when he pointed to something up ahead. “Should we go there and see if they can help us?” Following his finger, I saw a hospital a few blocks ahead. Two army tanks had been parked on the street in front of it, and a wall of sand bags blocked the entrance. I could see two soldiers with large guns patrolling the area.

  “Well,” Ben started, leaning forward over the dashboard, “the news reporter said anyone infected should get immediate medical assistance. Maybe they have a cure?” He pulled a pair of binoculars from his backpack and held them up to get a closer look.

  “I don’t know,” I replied, unbuckling my seatbelt and sliding out of the booth. “It looks pretty intimidating. And if that’s where the infected are going, I don’t want to be anywhere near it.” I stood up and leaned on the back of Wyatt’s chair, peering through the windshield.

  “We’re not infected,” Wyatt said. “Maybe we could help?” He looked at each of us, trying to gauge our reactions.

  “We sure look infected,” Ben said, his hand waving over his apron and the fake blood and lesions on his face. “We should probably take this makeup off if we’re gonna go in there.”

  I pulled my makeup remover wipes out of my satchel and handed one to each of them. The coolness of the cloth refreshed me as I smoothed it over my face, and it felt good to look like my normal self again. I wondered if going to the hospital would be the best choice for us. They would have medical supplies, food and help for us there, and it was clearly protected. It could be the only safe place left in Melbourne, and it seemed like a much better idea than driving through the outback to the other side of the country.